Smoking mixtures

ABSTRACT

Tobacco substitute materials in which the main constituent is a thermally degraded carbohydrate obtained by subjecting a carbohydrate, such as cellulose to a catalysed degradation process at a temperature of at least 100* C, are treated with a flavorant compound having the general formula   WHERE X2 is an alkyl radical of one to four carbon atoms. The specific flavorants disclosed are maltol, dihydromaltol, ethylmaltol, isomaltol and 2-hydroxy- Beta -methyl- gamma hexenolactone.

United States ate Anderson et a1.

1 Jell 11, 1197s 1 SMOKING MIXTURES [75] inventors: Robert CraigAnderson; A'lain Ealder, both of Manchester, England [73] Assignee:Imperial Chemical llndustries Limited, London, England [22] Filed: Sept.20, 11974 [21] Appl. No: 507,935

Related US. Application Data [62] Division of Ser. No. 308,743, Nov. 22,1972.

[30] Foreign Application Priority Data OTHER PUBLlCATIONS SyntheticAromatics and Flavors for Elavors and Perfumery Booklet published by theCalifornia Aromatics and Flavor (10. Inc, 40 pp, page 31 cited (1971).

Primary Examiner-Melvin 1D. Rein Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Cushman, Darby& Cushman [57] AESTRAET Tobacco substitute materials in which the mainconstituent is a thermally degraded carbohydrate obtained by subjectinga carbohydrate, such as cellulose to a catalysed degradation process ata temperature of at least 100 C, are treated with a flavorant compoundhaving the general formula lto i where X is an alkyl radical of one tofour carbon atoms. The specific flavorants disclosed are maltol,dihydromaltol, ethylmaltol, isomaltol and 2-hydroxy-,G-methyl-y-hexenolactone.

6 Claims, No Drawings SMOKING MIXTURES This is a division of applicationSer. No. 308,743 filed Nov. 22, 1972.

This invention relates to smoking mixtures comprising solid combustiblematerial other than tobacco, and a flavouring compound.

The opinion is now widely held that the smoking of tobacco, especiallyin cigarette form increases the incidence of lung cancer and bronchiticailments. Consequently the replacement of tobacco in smoking mixtures bycellulose and other smoke-producing materials has been proposed, butsuch proposed mixtures have not yet proved acceptable to smokers becausethe smoke flavour is excessively different from that of tobacco smoke.

According to the invention a smoking mixture comprises solid combustiblematerial other than tobacco and as a flavourant a compound of theformula 9 H OH C H I A g or c x X ti wherein X represents the atomsnecessary to complete a carbocyclic or heterocyclic ring of five or sixcarbon atoms and X represents an alkyl radical preferably of one to fourcarbon atoms.

The solid combustible material may be a smokeproducing carbohydrate, forexample a-cellulose, a cellulose ether e.g. methylcellulose,hydroxyethyl cellulose or carboxymethyl cellulose or a modifiedcellulose e.g. an oxidised cellulose. It may also be a sugar, starch,alginate, pectin or a natural gum.

Desirably however the solid combustible material is a thermally degradedcarbohydrate, especially thermally degraded cellulose, manufactured forexample by the process described and claimed in our UK. Pat. No.1,113,979 by subjecting carbohydrate to catalysed degradation at 100 to250C until the weight of degraded material is less than 90% of the dryweight of the original carbohydrate. Preferred degradation catalysts insuch a process include sulphuric acid, sulphamic acid and ammoniumsulphamate.

The solid combustible material may also be a condensation productmanufactured as acid or base catalysed condensation of a compound of theformula R COCH CH C011.

(or a precursor thereof) wherein R and R which may be the same ordifferent, each represents a hydrogen atom or an alkyl, hydroxyalkyl orformyl group. Preferred such products are condensates of succinaldehydeor acetonyl acetone or a condensate from a precursor of (l) containing afuran ring structure.

The smoking mixtures may also contain other ingredients such as arenormally used to impart desired physical properties and burningcharacteristics for example inorganic fillers, binders, plasticisers,humectants, colorants, glow-controlling catalysts, ash improvers,nicotine, medicaments, and other flavourants besides those of theformulae (A) or (B).

In formula (A) for the flavourant compound heterocyclic rings completedby the atoms represented by X are preferably furan or pyran rings.

Specific examples of flavourant compounds of formula (A) are:

corylone (2-hydroxy-3-methyl-Z-cyclopenten-ll-one) maltol(3-hydroxy-2-methyl-pyran-4-one) dihydromaltol(3-hydroxy-2-methyl(5,6ll-l-)Py an- 4-one) ethylmaltol(3-hydroxy-2-ethyl-pyran-4-one) oz-hydroxy-B-methyl-y-hexenolactone(3-hydroxy-4- methyl-5-methyl-(5-H-)- furan) A specific example of aflavourant compound of formula (B) is isomaltol(3-hydroxy-2-acetyl-furan).

To make the smoking mixtures of the invention the flavourant compoundmay be incorporated with the solid combustible material by any desiredtechnique. Conveniently a solution of the flavourant compound in avolatile solvent may be sprayed on to the combustible materialformulated with other ingredients into film or shred form.

Surprisingly the smoke from the smoking mixture of the invention is moretobacco-like in flavour than that from the solid combustible materialalone.

The proportion of the said flavourant required to produce thetobacco-like flavour is small, generally less than 2% by weight. Thusmaltol, isomaltol, dihydromaltol and ethylmaltol are preferably used at0.7 to 11.5% by weight. Corylone however is a much stronger flavourantand is preferably used in proportions of 0.01 to 0.3% by weight.

lf desired the smoking mixtures may be blended with tobacco, for examplein proportions containing up to 50% of tobacco. Such blends are lesshazardous to health than the tobacco, when this is smoked alone, and arepreferable in flavour to the corresponding blends containing noflavourant compound.

The invention is illustrated but not limited by the following Examplesin which the parts are by weight and the abbreviation SClVlC meanssodium carboxymethyl cellulose. All flavour assessments reported in theExamples were made by a panel of experts having long experience inassessing the flavour of tobacco cigarettes.

EXAMPLE ll 9 parts of glycerol and 2 parts of ammonium sulphate weredissolved in 400 parts of water. 12 parts of SCMC were added to thestirred solution and stirring continued for 10 minutes. To this stirredsolution was added a mixture of 28.6 parts of magnesite, 16.5 parts ofcalcium carbonate, 5 parts of bentonite and 26.9 parts of a materialprepared by heat treating oz-cellulose in the presence of ammoniumsulphamate until a weight loss of 25% occurred. Stirring was continuedfor at least one hour.

The resulting slurry was cast on glass plates to give a film with a drybasis weight of 48-52 grams per sq. metre. The film was shredded andsprayed with 0.0T parts of corylone(2-hydroxy-3-methyl-2-cyclopentenll-one) in diethyl ether solution. Theether was evaporated off, the shred humidified and blended with its ownweight of flue cured Virginian Tobacco. This blend was made intocigarettes.

Flavour assessment of these cigarettes against a similar blend withoutcorylone showed that the former was preferred on the grounds of superiortobacco flavour.

EXAMPLE 2 EXAMPLE 3 8.7 parts of glycerol and 2 parts of ammoniumsulphate were dissolved in 360 parts of water. 11.6 parts of SCMCwereadded to the stirred solution and stirring continued for ten minutes.Thereafter a solution of 3 parts of l-nicotine and 3 parts of lacticacid in 40 parts of water was added with stirring followed by theaddition of a mixture of 26 parts of magnesite, 14.7 parts of calciumcarbonate, 4.9 parts of bentonite and 26.1 parts of a material preparedby heat treating a-cellulose in the presence of ammonium sulphamateuntil a weight loss of 25% occurred. Stirring was continued for at least1 hour.

The resulting slurry was cast on glass plates to give a film with a drybasis weight of 48-52 grams per sq. metre. The film was shredded andsprayed with 0.01 parts of corylone in diethyl ether solution. The etherwas removed by evaporation, v the shred humidified and blended with itsown weight of flue-cured Virginian tobacco. This blend was made intocigarettes.

Flavour assessment of these cigarettes against a similar blend withoutcorylone showed that the former was preferred on the grounds of superiortobacco flavour, thus showing that the flavourant effect of corylone isapparent when nicotine is also present.

EXAMPLE 4 5.32 parts of a material prepared by heat treating a-cellulosein the presence of ammonium sulphamate until a weight loss of 25%occurred was mixed with 60 parts of water and ground in a disintegrator.1.18 parts of glycerol followed by 0.2 parts of maltol and 0.4 parts ofammonium sulphate in 20 parts of water were added to the stirred mix. Adry mixture consisting of 3.28 parts of calcium carbonate and 0.98 partsof bentonite was then added bollowed by 2.98 parts of sodiumcarboxymethyl cellulose and 5.66 parts of magnesite and the resultantslurry stirred for at least 1 hour. The slurry was then cast to give afilm with a dry basis weight of 48-52 grams per sq.metre.

The film-was shredded and the shred blended with flue-cured tobacco togive a blend containing 50% of tobacco. The blend was made up intocigarettes.

Flavour assessment of these cigarettes against a similar blend withoutmaltol showed that the former was preferred on the grounds of superiorflue-cured Virginia tobacco flavour.

A similar flavour is produced by using isomaltol,

dihydromaltol, ethylmaltol or Z-hydroxy-B-methyl-yhexenolactone in placeof maltol.

What we claim is:

.1. A smoking mixture comprising a thermally degraded carbohydratetobacco substitute and. as a flavourant, a compound of the formulawherein X represents an alkyl radical preferably of one to four carbonatoms said thermally degraded carbohydrate being obtained by subjectinga carbohydrate material to a catalysed degradation process at atemperature of at least 100C until the weight of the degraded materialis approximately or less of the dry weight of the original carbohydrate.

2. A smoking mixture according to claim 1 wherein the solid combustiblematerial is a thermally degraded cellulose. I

3. A smoking mixture according to claim 1 wherein the proportion of thesaid flavourant is less than 2% by weight.

' 4. A smoking mixture according to claim 1 wherein the said flavourantis maltol, dihydromaltol, ethylmaltol, isomaltol ora-hydroxy-B-methyl-'y-hexenolactone.

5. A smoking mixture according to claim 4 wherein the proportion of saidflavourant is from 0.7 to 1.5 parts by weight.

'6. A smoking mixture according to claim 1 blended with tobacco.

1. A SMOKING MIXTURE COMPRISING A THERMALLY DEGRADED CARBOHYDRATETOBACCO SUBSTITUTE AND, AS A FLACOURANT, A COMPOUND OF THE FORMULA
 2. Asmoking mixture according to claim 1 wherein the solid combustiblematerial is a thermally degraded cellulose.
 3. A smoking mixtureaccording to claim 1 wherein the proportion of the said flavourant isless than 2% by weight.
 4. A smoking mixture according to claim 1wherein the said flavourant is maltol, dihydromaltol, ethylmaltol,isomaltol or Alpha -hydroxy- Beta -methyl- gamma -hexenolactone.
 5. Asmoking mixture according to claim 4 wherein the proportion of saidflavourant is from 0.7 to 1.5 parts by weight.
 6. A smoking mixtureaccording to claim 1 blended with tobacco.